Pro-Russian resources are massively disseminating information that all Ukrainian athletes competing at the 2024 Olympics are allegedly required to wear personal GPS trackers on their legs. This should supposedly prevent escape attempts, that is, the non-return of Ukrainian athletes to Ukraine after the Olympic Games in Paris. In reporting this, propagandists refer to the “head of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine” Vadym Hutsait.

In fact, this information is not true, they write in the StopFake project. Neither on the official website of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, nor in other open sources of information, nor in the statements of the ex-Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Vadym Hutsait, there is any mention of the fact that Ukrainian athletes are forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets during the Olympics in Paris. This “news” is disseminated only by propaganda resources. In addition, acting Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvey Bedny, and Vadym Hutsait held this post from March 2020 to November 9, 2023. Today Hutsait is the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. That is, this is another confirmation of the falsity of the news, because pro-Kremlin propagandists could not even correctly identify the head of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

Moreover, there is no need to track the movements of Ukrainian Olympians abroad using GPS trackers. Many may be exempt from mobilization and travel abroad is permitted for them. Also, despite the possibility of reservation, many athletes voluntarily went to defend Ukraine from the first days of a full-scale war.

In an interview with AFP Minister Deputy of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvii Bidnyi said that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Russians have killed about 500 Ukrainian athletes and coaches, among whom were dozens of world and European champions. The sports infrastructure also suffered significant losses. Russia damaged and destroyed more than 500 sports venues, including 15 Olympic training bases across Ukraine. In the end, Bidnyi added that sports facilities can still be restored, but returning dead athletes cannot be possible.

With this fake, Russian propagandists seek to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and assert, they say, “the authoritarian Zelenskyi has everyone on the hook”.

Previously, Detector Media denied information that on the eve of the 2024 Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency planned to introduce anti-doping exemptions for the Ukrainian Olympic team to combat the stress of war.

• Read also: We’ll come to Paris on tanks: how Russian propaganda reacts to exclusion from the 2024 Olympic Games – MediaSapiens.